Because of the high electrical potential between lithium anodes in thionyl chloride depolarizers and carbon or metal cathodes, there is a great interest in batteries using these materials. Aluminum chloride is particularly attractive for high rate batteries. However, lithium/thionyl chloride batteries employing aluminum chloride have been found to be unacceptable in some instances because of the low conductance of the electrolyte solution and the high corrosive nature of the acidic solution. If the aluminum chloride solutions of thionyl chloride could be modified to have improved conductivity, far greater acceptance of this electrolyte cell would be realized.